Recruitment season is upon us once again! As work week gets closer and closer, I find myself feeling equal parts excitement and dread. Recruitment offers such a great opportunity for sisterly bonding that’s free of boys, studying, and any other distraction that comes about during the semester. At the same time, it’s no picnic having to be at the house for 15 hours a day with girls yelling “SING LOUDER” and “DON’T. STOP. SMILING. EVER.” For those of you out there who are popping your recruitment cherries, fear not! Your hard work will always pay off in the end when you get a whole new PC of beautiful babies to fawn over. But to make your work week a little easier, I’ve compiled a list of Dos and Don’ts to help the ladies who are about to experience what recruitment is like on the other side for the first time.
DO: Come With a Good Attitude
If you keep thinking you’re going to have a bad time, you’re going to have a bad time. I believe that’s called a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s really easy to let recruitment get you down when you’re tired and your hands are raw from so much clapping. But guess what? Everyone else is just as tired and pissy as you are. Take advantage of this! Some of my best memories are when my sisters and I get unstoppable cases of the giggles in our delirious state induced by caffeine, food, and a critical lack of sleep. Remember: laughter is the best abs workout. So take a little time out to goof around to keep you from strapping on a straitjacket and being sent away in the back of a padded van by recruitment’s end.
DON’T: Wear New Shoes
I made this mistake last year. I literally have scars on my feet from the blisters I got from my super adorable Michael Kors shoes. Plus, it’s really hard to act like you’re excited about talking to PNMs when you’re in some serious, serious pain. If the heels you’re planning to wear are new-ish, WEAR THOSE BITCHES IN! There’s a million pins on Pinterest that tell you how to do so in under an hour.
DO: Conserve Your Voice
I don’t know about y’all, but I’m a talker. It’s not that I walk around having conversations with myself; I just like to be socializing…all the time. This will be the death of you. Recruitment requires A LOT of talking, and the more you talk during work week, the more likely you’ll lose your voice when it’s show time. Believe me, no PNM wants to talk to someone who sounds like a 80 year old chain smoker that wheels around a tank of oxygen. If you’re doing anything more “talk intensive” than just conversation practice and doing your door chants over and over (i.e. you’re in the skit, speaking on pref night, etc) go by yourself a big box of throat soothing tea now. I downed that shit like a fat frat boy pounds back cases of beer, and it works fairly well.
DON’T: Ignore What Your Recruitment Team Tells You To Do
Seriously. Work week and recruitment week are not the time to prove to everyone that you know better. If they want you to get a tan, do it. If they want you to stop talking to everyone around you, stop. If they want you to smile during door chant practice, smile! (It’s a lot easier to keep smiling even when you’re getting the cheek equivalent of a Charlie horse and still have 5 more parties left when you always practiced smiling, trust me.) Those girls know what they’re doing and work is so much easier for everyone when the recruitment chairs don’t become the sorority version of the Hulk. You never know what is going to be the last straw until it’s too late. You won’t like them when they’re angry, so do as you’re told!
DO: Come up with Anecdotes to Fall Back on Ahead of Time
Especially in the first few days of recruitment, you’ll talk to about a bajillion people. Nerves are high for actives and PNMs alike, so it can be pretty easy to blank when a girl asks you something like “What’s your favorite memory with your sisters?” Instead of responding with a super articulate “uhhhhhhhhhh” while you wrack your brain for a story that doesn’t involve alcohol, parties, or boys, it helps to have a few stories you can whip out for different situations. I’m not saying you should write out a script for yourself and memorize it word for word, just think of a few stories or fun times that could work for a variety of questions. For example, when a girl asked me the aforementioned question, I told her about my dead week freshman year when a group of pledge sisters took up a giant table in the library, stopping for group hug breaks whenever one of us started getting overwhelmed. This one also works great when girls ask about balancing schoolwork with sorority life, or what kind of support system you get from your sisters.
DON’T: Socialize Solely With Your Clique
Recruitment is your chance to branch out and bond with older girls or girls in your pledge class who don’t come around that often! One of my very best friends in my sorority is a girl two PCs ahead of me, and if I’d only spoken to my usual crew, I would’ve missed out on possibly the best person to drink wine and complain about fratdaddy problems with. You never know what kind of insane connection you can have with a girl you didn’t get a chance to get to know your first year of college.
